EXCERPT:
Chapter
1
March
16, 2003
Payson,
Arizona
He thought he was dead.
Steam hissed from the crumpled front end of the RV that had folded
accordion-style against the guardrail. His face stung from the punch of the
airbag. His lungs burned from that awful talcum powder that drifted through the
cabin as the bag deflated. The chemical dust, suspended in the air, seemed to
be frozen in time.
His nose was numb and swollen. He tasted blood trickling down the back
of his throat like a cocaine drip. He peered through the cracked windshield,
his eyes adjusting to the reddish glow of a desert sunrise. The crushed-in hood
had jarred upward. The chassis was off balance. The whole vehicle wobbled as he
shifted his weight in his seat.
Oh my God.
He cranked the door handle and heaved his shoulder into it to pop it
off the jamb. He hopped down onto the highway. The winds were heavy and dry,
rustling the sage and scrub oaks that dotted the rugged landscape along the
Beeline Highway. A sliver of fiery light barely illuminated the peaks of the
Mazatal Mountains, which rose and fell against the horizon. Giant saguaros
stood like sentries.
The back half of a red two-door sedan lay beneath the shredded front
tires of the RV. Flattened like an aluminum can. On impact the RV must have
bucked forward, rolling up onto the rear bumper of the smaller car, coming to
rest on its roof. The significant weight of the RV crushed the sedan into
something you might see stacked in a junkyard.
The highway was quiet. Just the rush of hot wind crackling the
delicate spines of the sagebrush. He got his bearings quickly, the initial
shock of the crash having passed. A sobering experience. Literally. Half a
handle of Jack Daniels coursing through his veins had been replaced by
something stronger.
Panic.
He saw long hair, a young female’s. How he could tell her age by the
back of her head, he would never know. Maybe by its length and sheen—bright,
yellow-blond. Slick with blood. Her forehead propped on the steering wheel. The
driver-side window blown out. The windshield was a shattered web.
The man beside her—or boy, he was arguably young—was out cold, his
body positioned in the passenger’s seat in a gimpy, off-kilter fashion. The
passenger side had been thrust into the guardrail, which molded itself to the
frame of the car. His head lolled against the door. Blood leaked from his ear
and ran down his neck.
“Are you okay?” he screamed, although he knew he would get no reply.
His voice resonated throughout the valley. “Hello?”
He braced himself against the ruined front end of the RV. He felt a
surge of bile and whiskey come up in the back of his throat. He heaved forward
but held it in. He was lightheaded.
Oh God,
please let this be a dream. Oh God, please...this can’t be happening, this
can’t be happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eric Matheny is a criminal defense attorney who enjoys writing crime
fiction, drawing from his experience working in the legal system. He has
handled everything from DUI to murder. His latest novel The
Victim was released on August 13, 2015, published by Zharmae.
If you are a fan of John Grisham, David Baldacci, and Harlan
Coben, The Victim may be your kind of novel.
The Victim is a
tense, fast-paced, legal thriller/psychological suspense novel that centers
around a young defense attorney whose horrifying misdeed from his college days
comes back to haunt him.
Synopsis:
Anton Mackey is a
man with everything. At least, he seems to be on the surface. He has a rising
career as a private attorney, a lovely wife, a beautiful daughter; he and his
family live in an idyllic neighborhood that most people dream about. Sure,
there are troubles that plague this family, the same as any other, but all in
all things are looking up. Life is good, and the future is better.
Except Anton has a
past, too, and something has been looming, bearing down on him from that
history, just waiting for the chance to strike. Soon, everything will change,
and the life he’s struggled so hard to build will come crashing down around
him.
And the worst part
of it all: Anton Mackey has no one to blame but himself.
Praise for The Victim:
“The Victim by Eric Matheny has a fast moving pace and a skillfully
conceived plot with quite a few twists and turns… A page turner, this legal
thriller has all the elements to hold reader interest from the first page to
the last.” - Reviewed by ReadersFavorite.com
“An astounding legal thriller that is full of surprise, mystery and
moral dilemma. Matheny may well be the next Scott Turow.” – Reviewed by BestThrillers.com
About the Author:
Eric Matheny was born in Los Angeles, California, where he lived until
he went away to college at Arizona State University. At ASU he was president of
Theta Chi Fraternity. He graduated with a degree in political science and moved
to Miami, Florida, to attend law school at St. Thomas University. During his
third year of law school, he interned for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's
Office, where he worked as a prosecutor upon graduation. In 2009, he went into
private practice as a criminal defense attorney. He is a solo practitioner
representing clients in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Broward County,
Florida. He has handled everything from DUI to murder.
In his free time, Eric enjoys writing crime fiction, drawing from his
experience working in the legal system. He published his debut novel Home in 2004, which centers around a
successful drug dealer catering to the rich in Orange County. His second novel Lockdown, published in 2005, follows a law
student trying to prove that an inmate serving a life sentence in one of
California’s toughest prisons might actually be innocent. Eric’s latest novel The Victim, is a tense, fast-paced,
legal thriller/psychological suspense novel that centers around a young defense
attorney whose horrifying misdeed from his college days comes back to haunt
him. It was published by Zharmae in August 2015 and is available for sale on Amazon.
Eric lives outside of Fort Lauderdale with his wife and two young
sons.
To learn more, go to http://www.ericmathenybooks.com/
Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda, Novel Addiction ~!~
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